KASHISH in association with Saathi – IIT Bombay, the campus LGBT group of IIT Bombay will host an evening of LGBTQ films on October 5th with KASHISH Forward and Best of KASHISH programs.

KASHISH Forward, the LGBT campus film festival, organized by KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is creating waves across India with eight screenings in six cities in October 2017. India’s first travelling LGBTQ campus film festival will screen path-breaking films in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kharagpur, Kolkata and Sonepat.

With screenings lined up at IIT Bombay on Oct 5th , O.P.Jindal University, Sonepat on Oct 10th,  IIT Delhi on Oct 11th , IIM Bangalore on Oct 14th and IIT Kharagpur on Oct 15th; this campus festival is aiming to raise awareness about LGBTQ issues among students and staff members. Other screenings in the pipeline in October are Gargi College, New Delhi, Presidency College, Kolkata and a screening hosted by Prantakatha in Kolkata for youth.

“Over the past two years KASHISH Forward has screened at 19 colleges and the journey has been amazing”, said festival director Sridhar Rangayan, “The response from students and academics to the film screenings and discussions has been very positive and productive, in shaping mindsets of younger generation”.

Kashish Forward

Kashish Forward

From a screening to standard XI students at Tagore International School, New Delhi to graduate & post graduate students of engineering, management, liberal arts, sociology, psychology, fine arts and humanities, the film screening focused on youth-oriented LGBTQ lives have been an eye-opener for the students. The screenings have been conducted at campuses not only in the metros, but also in B-town cities like Sonepat, Ahmedabad, Kharagpur and Chandigarh.

The events screen a curated program of films on gender identity, sexual orientation, bullying & homophobia, coming out, finding love, dilemmas of parents and family acceptance.

“The films screened at KASHISH Forward invoked a sense of purpose and need for keeping up the good fight”, said Anoop Yadav, a student at IIM Ahmedabad and coordinator of the campus group IIM Ally.

Filmmaker Sopan Muller, whose film ‘My Child Is Gay, I’m Happy’ about parents of LGBTQ children speaking out, is part of the program said, “Thank you KASHISH Forward for ensuring my film is screened in so many universities and educational Institutes. It is important that the film is seen by as many people as possible, for it to make a difference. And what better place than centres of learning?”

KASHISH Forward is organized by KASHISH Arts Foundation, a not-for-profit trust that that aims to arrange and organize programs in the field of arts, culture, literature, theatre and films. It aims to create awareness and work for the social, cultural, educational awakening of citizens of India who are marginalized on the basis of their gender identity, HIV status, transgenders and other sexual minorities.

KASHISH Forward is supported by Movies That Matter, an organization in The Netherlands which supports film screenings and discussion about human rights in several countries around the world.

Every year KASHISH Arts Foundation presents its flagship event KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival – South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ film festival. It also organizes KASHISH Forward, a traveling campus LGBTQ film festival. The trust facilitates KASHISH Global, programming of Indian LGBTQ films at festivals worldwide, and Best of KASHISH, screening at various organizations and pride events across India.

Colleges interested in organizing a KASHISH Forward event can write to kashish.forward@gmail.com. It is a free event open to all.